This invention relates to a collapsible keyboard and display mechanism for a computer system, and more particularly to such a mechanism which protects and cushions even an exposed, unguarded display.
Portable computers offer many great advantages to the user. A single portable computer can be used in place of several stationary computers in the home, office, and elsewhere. Data and computing power can easily be transported on the road or to a remote site. The problem of inconsistent data on remote unconnected computers can usually be avoided. The utility of these devices depends on the degree to which they are portable (their size and weight), on the degree with which they can reproduce the ergonomics of a full-sized computer, and on their durability. Early xe2x80x9ccredit-cardxe2x80x9d calculators were not durable. They were typically held in a wallet in the back pants pocket. The user sitting down invariably bent the card sufficiently to break the fragile and brittle display. Current laptop computers protect the fragile display with thick and heavy plastic xe2x80x9carmorxe2x80x9d. This adds weight and size and therefore reduces portability. Current laptop computer design generally represents a compromise between the size as measured by the xe2x80x9cfootprintxe2x80x9d of the folded device and the ergonomics. They are designed around the ergonomic constraint that the keyboard width should be roughly the width of two human hands (about ten inches).
Numerous patents have been awarded for the introduction and refinement of the folding display and keyboard (Lai-Fa Hsieh, Great Electronics Corporation, U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,365; Takashi Hosoi, Toshiba, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,078, etc.). A recent article in the January 1994 issue of PC Laptop provides a detailed and comprehensive review of 86 handheld, pen-based, notebook, and laptop computing devices. Essentially all of the devices which use a keyboard have the display fold into the keyboard.
In these current designs, the footprint is constrained to be as large as the larger of the two components. Moreover, the keyboard has an aspect ratio of roughly two-to-one, whereas the standard displays have an aspect ratio close to unity; 640xc3x97480, 1280xc3x971024 pixels are common values. The result of this inconsistency is wasted footprint area.
Laptop makers have gone to great lengths to work around this constraint. One design compresses the aspect ratio of the pixels so that each pixel is rectangular rather than square. This allows standard display resolutions to be displayed in elongated displays. However, the resultant images are distorted. Circular pie charts become elliptical.
An alternative design is incorporated into current subnotebooks and personal organizers. This design simply shrinks the keyboard substantially below the size that is ergonomically comfortable. Typically the overly packed keys must be curved in a convex manner to prevent inadvertent actuation of adjacent keys. These have been derisively termed xe2x80x9cchicklets keyboardsxe2x80x9d by reviewers.
Personal information managers solve the problem by declaring that the keyboard is unnecessary and by promising useable voice and handwriting recognition capability sometime in the future.
One attempt to solve some of these problems uses hinged keyboards. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,940,758; 4,395,704; 4,517,660; 4,939,514. But these approaches all suffer their own shortcomings: the hinges protrude and interfere with the use of the keyboard; the display must be guarded and protected so it is unduly large and is generally fixed to the keyboard or other structure and does not collapse.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism for a computer system.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism which protects the display within the collapsed keyboard.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism which enables use of a smaller, lighter display using an exposed, unguarded display element.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism in which the keys act as a cushioning element to further protect the display.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism which can employ a conventional alphanumeric keyboard.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism which the keyboard and display have the same aspect ratio in the collapsed state so that the package is very efficient in its use of space.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism which the light weight display is easily positioned for optimum viewing comfort.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved collapsible keyboard and display mechanism in which a truly xe2x80x9cshirt pocketxe2x80x9d package can be obtained.
The invention results from the realization that a truly compact, efficient, xe2x80x9cshirt pocketxe2x80x9d computer can be achieved with a hinged keyboard having two or more sections which fold together about an independent display to protect the display and cushion it with the keys themselves so the display can be little more than a bare display element exposed and unguarded but for the protection afforded by the keyboard, and further that through the use of link hinges any interference of the hinges with the use of the keyboard can be virtually eliminated, and that also through the use of link hinges a two section display and two section keyboard can be made to compactly collapse by making coincident the axes of rotation of the display hinges and the keyboard hinges.
This invention features a collapsible keyboard and display mechanism for a computer system. There is a collapsible keyboard having at least two independent keyboard sections and first hinge means for enabling at least two of the keyboard sections to fold together in face to face relationship. An independent display section is disposed between the two keyboard sections in the collapsed condition.
In a preferred embodiment the first hinge means may include a link hinge means. The link hinge means may orient the two keyboard sections in a spaced relationship in the collapsed condition and the two keyboard sections may be substantially parallel in the collapsed condition. The keyboard sections may have their keys facing toward each other in the collapsed face to face relationship. The display section may be interconnected with the keyboard by second hinge means. The second hinge means may have its axis transverse to the first hinge means. The second hinge means may be on the back of the keyboard. The display section may include an exposed display element. At least two of they keyboard sections include alphabet keys. The display section may be interconnected with the keyboard by a mechanical linkage for adjusting the position of the display section relative to the keyboard and the user. The display section may include first and second display segments and third hinge means for collapsibly interconnecting the segments with each other. The second hinge means may include a first hinge device for interconnecting one of the display segments with one of the keyboard sections and a second hinge device for interconnecting the other of the display segments with another of the keyboard sections. The axis of rotation of the first hinge means and the third hinge means may coincide for enabling the display segments to collapse in face to face relationship and fold within the collapsed keyboard sections. At least one of the keys on the keyboard may include a recess for accommodating at least a portion of the first hinge means. The first, second and third hinge means may have mutually perpendicular axes.